This invention relates generally to the editing of digital video and the enhancement of visual effects in existing video sequences.
Video sequences may be captured and stored using digital video cameras. The digital video may be stored on randomly accessible media such as a hard disk drive, a digital video disk, or a compact disk, as examples.
A number of video effects may be incorporated during the capture process to achieve artistic effects and to provide emphasis on particular features. For example, in the course of capturing the video, a zoom effect may be achieved. Without actually moving the camera, the lens focal length may change so that objects that are far away appear closer and vice versa. In addition, by moving the camera itself, a panning effect may be achieved wherein the viewer's point of view appears to change.
Once the captured digital video is stored on a storage medium, it may be desirable to modify the video to enhance its presentation. In many cases, the video camera operator may not have thought of all the possibilities for artistic or creative display of the subject matter. In many cases, the video must be captured on the fly as events occur. Thereafter, it would be desirable to inject additional effects, including the camera effects described above, to existing digital video data.
Therefore, there is a need for a way to impose camera effects on pre-existing video sequences.